It’s long been common knowledge that the PlayStation 3 is a difficult platform to develop for. Just like the PlayStation 2 before it, the architecture of the system has a tendency to confound outside developers, and the Xbox 360 is often cited as a more transparent system for developers to get their bearings in. Do excellent games get developed for the PS3? Sure. Is it harder than it should be? Even more sure.

Still, when an industry programming genius can’t get his latest blockbuster title to run as fast on the PS3 as the Xbox 360 or the PC, you know there’s serious problems. In the latest issue of Edge, id software founder and lead programmer John Carmack reveals that he has had substantial problems getting his new game, Rage, to run well on the PS3.

“The PS3 lags a little bit behind in terms of getting the performance out of it,” John Carmack told Edge. “The rasteriser is just a little bit slower – no two ways about that.

“The RSX is slower than what we have in the 360. The CPU is about the same, but the 360 makes it easier to split things off, and that’s what a lot of the work has been, splitting it all into jobs on the PS3,” he said.

Carmack doesn’t reveal if he thinks the frame rate issues can be solved before Rage’s release, but right now, Rage for the PS3 will run twice as slowly as its 360 counterpart. That’s got to be a serious blow to PlayStation 3 proselytizers.